Teamsters Airline Division Supports Allied Pilots Association – Economic Recovery Depends on Job Creation

The Airline Division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters issued the following statement of support today on behalf of the Allied Pilots Association, certified collective bargaining agent for the 11,500 pilots of American Airlines:

“The Airline Division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters strongly supports the Allied Pilots Association’s efforts to prevent the outsourcing of yet more U.S. pilot jobs,” said Captain David Bourne, Teamsters Airline Division Director. “APA is right to resist American Airlines management’s application for worldwide antitrust immunity with British Airways and Iberia and related joint business agreement.

“We are all too familiar with the dangers of cross-border airline tie-ups,” he said. “Members of IBT Local 1224—which includes the pilots of Airborne Express—lost thousands of jobs after German-owned DHL took over Airborne Express and shifted much of the flying to DHL.

“American Airlines management has refused to provide the carrier’s pilots with even industry-standard job protections, which is hardly reassuring,” Bourne said. “Also, the European Commission announced earlier this month that American Airlines’ plans may violate rules governing restrictive business practices. Given that development, the Department of Transportation may want to consider whether it makes any sense to approve a deal that could fail to pass muster with European regulators.

“This type of virtual merger will absolutely result in the outsourcing of good U.S. jobs, which our nation just can’t afford,” he said. “Sustained economic recovery depends on job creation, not job destruction.”

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is the only union that represents every craft of workers in the airline industry. Teamster representation in the airline business has grown steadily since the first Teamster organizing drive in 1961 at Western Airlines. Today, Teamster contracts cover more than 53,000 airline employees, including mechanics, customer service agents, reservationists, simulator technicians, ramp agents, stock clerks, dispatch personnel, flight attendants and pilots.